Jack Hanna

A FEW MOMENTS WITH...

Having A Zoo Talk With Tvs Wildlife Expert

Everyones chewing, except me my tape recorder is rolling and Im interviewing the famous Jack Hanna as he wolfs down a sandwich.

I ask the wildlife enthusiast extraordinaire, frequent Late Night with David Letterman guest, author of several popular books and host of the syndicated TV show Zoo Life if he has a favorite animal.

I love cockroaches, he says, between bites of his sandwich.

Conversation around the table slows.

Why do you love cockroaches? I say, trying to conceal my horror. I mean, are they smart or something?

No, he says.

Uh, why then, specifically, do you like roaches? Can you name one characteristic about the roach thats positive?

They eat everything I eat, they sleep in the sock in my drawer, he says, pulling out of his wallet a pink business card printed with his name and a photograph of a big, fat, brown, exotic (if you can call it that) roach.

Are you joking? I say, ignoring the waitress who has come to take my order.

No. These arent regular cockroaches, these are big Madagascar cockroaches, he says, demonstrating how big with his fingers (about 3 inches).

I keep them in my sock in the motel drawer when I travel. I feed it when I come back from dinner.

The waitress returns. I stick with just a Diet Coke.

Usually I have a cockroach with me wherever I go, he says.

Little kids always come up to me and want to see an animal. . . . I pull it out of my pocket. He wiggles his fingers, demonstrating how one would hold a squirming roach.

Well a roach really isnt an animal, but Ill give him that.

So what wildlife does Hanna bring to mind? He has a bit of the peacock in him basking in the gazes of his attentive lunch mates. And you know how those chimps on Wild Kingdom were always grooming each other? Well, Hanna is a hands-on kind of guy frequently placing his hand on my arm or thigh as he talks, for emphasis.

Id rather entertain and hope people learn than to teach and hope people are entertained, he says, repeating a famous Walt Disney quote, which is also printed on his personal bio.

One can see why Hannas style of animal enthusiasm has led to frequent appearances on Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman and Larry King Live.

Hanna, 46, is in town to talk about the growing role of zoos. He feels theyre an important learning tool, especially as humans grow more separated from nature.

We must understand why animals exist, especially in todays world. With overpopulation, animals have no place to live. We have to try to preserve certain parts of the world for animals to live. When an animal goes into extinction, thats our first indication that were about to go.

He scoffs at the animal rights movement, especially in light of protests over captive wild animals and the film, Free Willy. For one thing, captive animals represent a minuscule percentage of the wild animal population, Hanna says. Secondly, most captive animals are born into captivity.

Animal rights activists, he says, exist on emotion and not fact. Thats very troublesome, he says, touching my arm.

With his sun-tanned face and khaki clothing, Hanna looks as if he belongs on a safari. But he began life on a farm in Tennessee. In 1973, at age 25, he became head of the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford, a job he calls the highlight of my life.

He went on to direct the Columbus Zoo, of which he is now director emeritus.

Finishing up lunch, the roach card has been forgotten and the smiling Hanna is captivating his audience with funny stories about his zoo life.

He taps my arm and thigh as if to say, Listen to this one. Then he tells the story of how he rescued a dog from an air-conditioning duct in a rental home by driving a truck with a jackhammer into the living room and tearing down a wall.

Hes really on a roll now. The only other male at the table leaves to check on the animals downstairs in the hotel. The women barely notice his departure. Theyre focused on Hanna.

Until I got to the Columbus Zoo, the gorillas didnt know how to take care of their babies. I called La Leche, they sent a lady out, I took her in there . . . she pulls out her breast and starts breast-feeding her baby.

She came back and was smiling, and said, Its unbelievable, they just watched and watched. Come here and Ill show you. I didnt have the heart to tell her it was the male that was watching her for 15 minutes. Oscar was intrigued. Hanna laughs and looks around the table to see his lunch mates amused reactions.

When my wife was breast-feeding my youngest daughter, we had two little chimps from Africa at the time, and one wasnt doing well at all.